Best of Philly

Best Bakery

2024 Best Cakes

Dreamworld Bakes

When Patti LaBelle celebrated her 80th birthday, there was only one bakery bold enough for the Godmother of Soul: Dreamworld. Adorned with fresh flowers, glitter, and broad swirling strokes of vibrant icing, every creation by owner Ashley Huston is a statement piece. The flavor combos are just ambitious. Cardamom-spiced sponge filled with mango-chai mousse; matcha cake with lavender-strawberry jam; and for LaBelle’s birthday, brown butter cake topped with — what else? — lemon marmalade. Read More »

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2024 Best Wedding: Statement Cakes

Clara’s Groovy Deliciousness

There are cakes, and then there are cakes, like the ones crafted by Brookhaven baker Samirah Williams. She’ll take your initial idea and run with it, layering buttercream, ganache, hand-shaped petals, sugar leaves — a little dash of everything sweet — to create a tiered confection that will draw almost as much attention as you will on your wedding day. For favors? Her LoveCrunch caramel corn in one of her limited-edition flavors — like honey-candied rosemary. Read More »

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2023 Best Wedding: Reason to Have a Vintage-Style Cake

New June Bakery

Imagine cutting into a four-tiered, ultra-frilly Lambeth-style cake on your Big Day — you’ll slice through prettily piped garlands and scrolls and frosting on frosting to reveal a vanilla confection with layers of tangy lemon cream and raspberry cardamom jam. The micro bakery and cake studio’s self-taught baker, Noelle Wheatley Blizzard, is embracing retro maximalism with her ’60s-inspired designs, and they’ve become wildly popular among the soon-to-be-wed crowd. Read More »

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2021 Best Bakery

Eeva

Pizza and wine is Eeva’s main game, sure, but every weekend, the kitchen crew bakes crispy-skinned bagels completely coated in everything spice, country loaves so airy they could double as kick drums, glistening­ focaccia,­ French baguettes and cookies. Read More »

310 Master Street, Philadelphia, PA Website

2021 Best Mission-Driven Bake Shop

Darnel’s Cakes

Discs of cheese danish and icing-smothered brioche cinnamon rolls taste that much better when you know Kyle Cuffie-Scott’s business supports AIDS and HIV relief orgs. And they tasted pretty damn good to begin with. Read More »

444 North 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA Website

2019 Best New Jewish Bakery

Lipkin’s Bakery

The Lipkin family’s first bakery was in South Philly, but they left for the Northeast almost 50 years ago. Well, they’re baaaacck. And their knishes, bagels, and poppy seed hamantaschen are better than ever. Read More »

2153 South Hancock Street, Philadelphia, PA | 215-462-1637 | Website

2019 Best Neighborhood Hang

Jezabel’s Argentine Cafe & Bakery

When Jezabel Careaga moved her Fitler Square Argentine cafe west, she combined it with a teahouse and retail shop, and it immediately became a hit — a place to eat, work, study, host events, and run into the neighbors. Read More »

206 South 45th Street, Philadelphia, PA | 267-519-2494 | Website

2018 Best Bakery

The Kettle Black

The Kettle Black’s French-focused offerings may be simple, but they’re simply perfect: thick-crusted loaves in flavors like malt-and-oats or raisin-walnut, crumbly scones, bagels colored a deep black with activated charcoal (good for both you and your Instagram account). They’ve also mastered the art of dairy-free viennoiserie, so vegans can dig in, too. Read More »

631 N 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA Website

2017 Best Jewish Bakery

Essen Bakery

Despite being less than two years old, Tova du Plessis’s shop is a throwback to a time when bakeries felt personal—when you actually interacted with the person twisting your babka with chocolate; when chocolate chip cookies still tasted homemade; when you were encouraged to grab a seat, settle in and eat your toast on-site. Read More »

1437 East Passyunk Avenue, Philadelphia, PA | 215-271-2299 | Website

2017 Best New Bakery

Cake Life Bake Shop

The story has an adorable beginning: Two besties quit their jobs to bake all day, together. In Chapter Two, they win Cupcake Wars on the Food Network. And the ending? This new cafe in Fishtown, where you can grab a cup of coffee and a sausage roll in the morning and a slice of cake (lemon-thyme with honey goat cheese frosting, maybe) any other time of day. Read More »

1306 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA | 215-278-2580 | Website